George Orwell's "A Hanging"
In George Orwell's "A Hanging", Orwell tells the story of what it was like to witness a man being hung. In this narrative there is a progression of emotions that can be seen in Orwell. In the beginning, Orwell sees the prisoner as an animal and his killing just a job that must be done. Then, Orwell experiences a realization about life when there is an incidence with a dog. This is the turning point in which Orwell realizes that it is not acceptable to kill a healthy human being. When the "job" is done and the man is dead, Orwell and his colleagues proceed to laugh and drink. At this point, Orwell is psychologically disconnecting himself from the harsh reality of what just happened. In this distance, Orwell finds solace. Orwell creates an effective argument against capital punishment by connecting the reader to the hanging, just as Orwell unintentionally became connected when the dog ran into the scene. The essay starts out by describing the day as being "a sodden morning of the rains," (19). Orwell describes the prison cells "like small animal cages" (19). Orwell continues with gloomy descriptions of the atmosphere. This creates a sa
d tone for the rest of the story. He proceeds by explaining that a job must be done and that the superintendent was getting irritable because it was not over with yet. Orwell is clearly disconnected from the awful killing that is about to occur. He does not think twice about it; it is just a duty that must be done before the other prisoners can eat breakfast. All of this changed when a dog ran to the men from the other side of the yard. When the dog was gone, the men continued to proceed towards the planks, but something had changed. Orwell began to look at the prisoner from behind. He began to analyze his body and his every move. He realized how physically healthy the man was. The man's body was in perfect working condition. Even mentally, Orwell felt a connection to the man he was about to watch die. When the prisoner stepped aside to avoid a puddle, Orwell realized that this man is human just as he is; Orwell would have avoided the puddle also. Orwell was connected to this man in a worldly way. In an essay titled "Meditation 17", John Donne wrote about the same realization he had about human life. He wrote, "No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main... Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind" (1107). This quote from John Donne is curiously close to how Orwell felt about humanness at that very moment. Orwell creates such an effective argument by putting the reader in his shoes. He tells the story just as he saw it. Orwell attempts to break the barrier of disconnection that his readers have to the hanging, just as his barrier was broken by the dog. And yes, he tried to disconnect himself, but the human connection was there and real, and that is exactly what Orwell intended to create with t
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Approximate Word count = 1214
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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